Between Scrap and Variations
I am between short, but intense, trips and have my brain quite fully embedded in the goal of teaching as I work on articles for the Winter issue and prepare for my class and first visit to Sandy Camp in San Diego at the end of this week. So, while I keep working on those items, how about a few ideas for things you might wish to explore?
All my tests and samples that I’ve been creating have produced a fair amount of scrap clay, so, of course, seeing a few cool options for using that clay catches my eye. And this process here, as outlined by Anne Idril Rohee Briere, actually overlaps into what I had planned to teach this weekend, as well as hitting on an interesting phenomenon. This technique isn’t really new but is rather a variation on, not one other technique, but varied other techniques. The cut and reveal approach to finding a pattern in clay is often referred to as mokume, but more often when it is done, it is done in layers of solid clay. Hidden magic is more traditionally done with rolled and pressed jelly roll canes while others have referred to covered layered or mixed clay that has been stamped and the top cut away as a reverse Sutton slice. I’m actually teaching a version of this as a variation for my mokume class this weekend, but I call it scrap mokume where primary layers in the mokume block are scrap separated by a solid color. They are all related in that they have a major common approach … depths of color change and slicing.
In other words, people have been, and hopefully will continue to, push the basic steps in these techniques to produce new and interesting patterns, and you can be one of those! The primary goal is to create a pattern that isn’t just a mush of color. That is what the solid layer or layers helps accomplish. Once you have that, you can stamp with a texture sheet, punch and cut your own pattern or fold and twist the clay. Then slice!
I always suggest trying a new technique as it’s been taught, then once you see how it works, that’s when your play and exploration can result in really wonderful variations. Let’s see what you can come up with this one. (You are more than welcome to send me your results, by the way. I love to see what others have made because of the posts and conversations on the blog. It helps keep me jazzed!)
See the full online tutorial here on Idril’s blog. Go ahead. It’s just playing with scrap and could be loads of fun.
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